Watercolor and ink on canvas | 11”x14” | I have been curious about using watercolor for underpaintings for oil, so I’m giving it a try with this scene.
Will do!
I did not know a watercolor underpainting was "a thing" (but I do not use watercolors). Will love to see how this turns out!
Interestingly, 19th-century British painters tended to like watercolor for underpaintings (see article below). In fact, this might be part of the reason that there is a level of distaste for watercolor among the fine art oil-painting community: watercolors were viewed as a sketching medium. I don't always feel like taking my oil paint setup with me to do plein air painting, but I can quickly throw my little watercolor set in a bag and go. If this works well, it will allow me to avoid photographing a subject to take it back to paint in oil. The key here is to block in the general hues and to establish basic value structures. I did choose to pencil and ink in the more detailed shapes because I find that I can't compose on the fly as well as Bob Ross could!
https://justpaint.org/acrylic-or-watercolor-underpainting-for-oils/
Interesting read - thanks Micah
I haven't finished the painting, but I added a photo to show how the oil is working overtop of the watercolor underpainting. Using transparent and semi-transparent paints is allowing some of the underpainting elements to come through, which I think I like.
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